Adam Ahmed Gemili (born 6 October 1993) is a British
sprinter. He is the 2014
European champion at
200 metres
The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400 metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slightl ...
, and
4 x 100 metres relay
4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures.
In mathematics
Four is the smallest ...
, and part of the Great Britain team that won gold in the
2017 World Championships in the same event. He was the first British Athlete to go sub-10s in the 100m and sub-20s in the 200m.
A
silver medal
A silver medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, et ...
ist in the
100 metres
The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been conteste ...
and 4 × 100 m relay in the
2014 Commonwealth Games
The 2014 Commonwealth Games ( gd, Geamannan a' Cho-fhlaitheis 2014), officially known as the XX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Glasgow 2014, ( sco, Glesca 2014 or Glesga 2014; gd, Glaschu 2014), was an international multi-sport ev ...
, Gemili is also a former
World Junior champion at 100 m and
European Under-23 champion at 100 m and 4 × 100 m relay.
Achievements
Gemili won a
gold medal
A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture.
Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have be ...
over 100 m at the
2012 World Junior Championships in Athletics
The 2012 World Junior Championships in Athletics was an international athletics competition for athletes qualifying as juniors (born 1993 or later) which was held at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, on 10–15 ...
in
Barcelona
Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...
. His winning time of 10.05 seconds established a new championship record, and is the second fastest ever run by a European
junior, behind only
Christophe Lemaitre
Christophe Lemaitre (; born 11 June 1990) is a French sprinter who specialises in the 100 and 200 metres. In 2010, Lemaitre became the first white athlete to break the 10-second barrier in an officially timed 100 m event. Lemaitre has run a s ...
(10.04). Having cleared the Olympic qualifying time with his 10.08 seconds in the 100 m in June 2012, Gemili competed at the
2012 Summer Olympics
The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, th ...
where he, after a poor start, came third in the semi-final in a time of 10.06 s, 0.04 s short of qualifying for the final.
He was selected to run the 200 m at the
2013 World Championships in Athletics
The 14th IAAF World Championships in Athletics (Moscow 2013) () was an international athletics competition held in Moscow, Russia, from 10–18 August 2013. Initially, Russia won the most gold medals to top the table for the first time since 200 ...
. Having set a personal best in the first round, in the semi-final Gemili ran a time of 19.98, making him only the second British athlete, after
John Regis, the third teenager (after
Usain Bolt
Usain St. Leo Bolt, , (; born 21 August 1986) is a retired Jamaican sprinter, widely considered to be the greatest sprinter of all time. He is the world record holder in the 100 metres, 200 metres, and 4 × 100 metres relay.
An eight-ti ...
and
Alonso Edward), and the ninth European athlete, to break 20 seconds in the event. 2013 was his first season training for the event.
Gemili won his first senior medal at the
2014 Commonwealth Games
The 2014 Commonwealth Games ( gd, Geamannan a' Cho-fhlaitheis 2014), officially known as the XX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Glasgow 2014, ( sco, Glesca 2014 or Glesga 2014; gd, Glaschu 2014), was an international multi-sport ev ...
coming second to Jamaica's
Kemar Bailey-Cole
Kemar Bailey-Cole (born 10 January 1992) is a male track and field athlete from Jamaica, who mainly competes in the 100m. He is the 2014 Commonwealth Games 100 metres champion.
Career
He qualified for the 2012 Summer Olympics running a persona ...
in the
100 m
1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1 ...
final in a time of 10.10 seconds. Two weeks later, Gemili took his first senior title, winning the 200 m at the
2014 European Athletics Championships
The 2014 European Athletics Championships was held in Zürich, Switzerland, between 12 and 17 August 2014. It was the first time that Switzerland had hosted the European Athletics Championships since 1954.
Great Britain headed the medal table, wi ...
, in an equal personal best of 19.98 (−1.6 m/s).
Gemili was overlooked for individual selection for the 2017 World Championships, following early season injury, but was included in the 4 x 100-metre relay team. Racing both heats and final, he won a historic gold medal as a member of the British quartet in a national and European record, lifting the team to third on the all-time list behind USA and Jamaica. The race was also notable as
Usain Bolt
Usain St. Leo Bolt, , (; born 21 August 1986) is a retired Jamaican sprinter, widely considered to be the greatest sprinter of all time. He is the world record holder in the 100 metres, 200 metres, and 4 × 100 metres relay.
An eight-ti ...
's last race; third at the changeover, Bolt pulled up injured and was unable to finish.
Gemili is a member of
Blackheath and Bromley Harriers Athletic Club Blackheath & Bromley Harriers AC is an athletics club based in South-East London, England. It is based at the Sydney Wooderson Centre, 56 Bourne Way, Hayes, Kent. It competes in division one of the British Athletics League
The British Athletics ...
, and also a former football player for
Dagenham & Redbridge
Dagenham & Redbridge Football Club is a professional association football club based in Dagenham, Greater London, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Often known simply as D ...
and
Thurrock F.C.
Thurrock Football Club was an English football club based in Purfleet, Thurrock, Essex. Known as Purfleet until 2003, the club played at Ship Lane.
History
Originally being founded as Essex Sports in 1984, the club was renamed to Purfleet in Ap ...
having spent seven years in the youth academy at
Chelsea
Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to:
Places Australia
* Chelsea, Victoria
Canada
* Chelsea, Nova Scotia
* Chelsea, Quebec
United Kingdom
* Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames
** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...
. Gemili is the only man of Middle Eastern descent to run the 100 m in under 10 seconds, and the first Briton to run both the 100 m in less than 10 seconds, and the 200 m in less than 20.
Early life
Gemili is of
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
ian and
Moroccan descent, which he considers to be "a very weird background for a sprinter." He is the first sprinter of either North African or Middle Eastern descent to break both the 10 second and 20 second barriers for 100 and 200 metres respectively At the age of eleven, Gemili attended
Dartford Grammar School
Dartford Grammar School is a selective secondary (ages 11–19) foundation school for boys in Dartford, Kent, England, which admits girls to its sixth form (ages 16–18). All of the students joining the school are considered to be from the top ...
.
He also attended
Barking and Dagenham College
Barking & Dagenham College is a general further education college in East London, England. It is located at a single complex in the eastern part of the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham next to Central Park and less than a mile from the town ...
where he studied for a
BTEC Extended Diploma
The BTEC (Business and Technology Education Council) Level 3 diploma is a Further Education qualification and vocational qualification taken in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The qualification is organised and awarded by Pearson within the ...
in Sport, and hoped to attend university at some point.
After the 2012 Olympics he started studying Sports and Exercise Science with Human Biology at the
University of East London
, mottoeng = Knowledge and the fulfilment of vows
, established = 1898 – West Ham Technical Institute1952 – West Ham College of Technology1970 – North East London Polytechnic1989 – Polytechnic of East London ...
, where he wrote his dissertation on the effect of particular warm-up exercises on sprinting performance. He is a member of Blackheath & Bromley Harriers.
Sprinting career
2011-15
Gemili won a silver medal over 100 m at the
2011 European Athletics Junior Championships
The 21st European Athletics Junior Championships were held between 21 and 24 July 2011 in the Kadriorg Stadium in Tallinn, Estonia.
Russia topped the medal table with 18 medals overall, including 8 golds, ahead of Germany and Great Britain.
Men's ...
in
Tallinn
Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju '' ...
,
Estonia
Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, an ...
.
He also helped the British squad to a silver medal in the 4 × 100 m relay. At the National Junior Athletic League Finals Gemili won the 200 m in 20.98, which was the fastest time by a European junior in 2011.
Gemili ran an Olympic qualifying time for the 100 m and won the Sparkassen Gala in
Regensburg
Regensburg or is a city in eastern Bavaria, at the confluence of the Danube, Naab and Regen rivers. It is capital of the Upper Palatinate subregion of the state in the south of Germany. With more than 150,000 inhabitants, Regensburg is the ...
, Germany, on 2 June 2012, just over three weeks prior to the British track trials for the
2012 Summer Olympics
The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, th ...
.
He beat his previous best time of 10.23 in the heats, running a time of 10.11 and then ran a time of 10.08 in the final. That time was the second fastest 100 m ever run by a British Junior,
behind only
Dwain Chambers (10.06 sec). At the time of his victory,
James Dasaolu
James Dasaolu (born 5 September 1987) is a retired British track and field athlete who specialised in the 100 metres. He was the 2014 European champion over the distance.
In July 2013, he became the second fastest Briton of all time after runni ...
was the only one other British athlete to have met the Olympic qualifying time for the men's 100 m.
[ Gemili was selected for the British 2012 Olympic 4 × 100 m relay team on 3 July 2012.
On 11 July 2012, Gemili finished first in the ]100 m
1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1 ...
at the 2012 World Junior Championships in Athletics
The 2012 World Junior Championships in Athletics was an international athletics competition for athletes qualifying as juniors (born 1993 or later) which was held at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, on 10–15 ...
, winning the gold medal in a time of 10.05 seconds, breaking the championship record originally established by Darrel Brown in 2002. Besides breaking the British national junior record, Gemili's 10.05 ranks sixth all-time among juniors, behind only Brown, Jeffery Demps
Jeffery Barnard Demps (born January 8, 1990) is an American track and field athlete and former American football running back. He attended the University of Florida, where he was a running back for the Florida Gators football team and a sprinte ...
, Marcus Rowland, D'Angelo Cherry and Christophe Lemaitre
Christophe Lemaitre (; born 11 June 1990) is a French sprinter who specialises in the 100 and 200 metres. In 2010, Lemaitre became the first white athlete to break the 10-second barrier in an officially timed 100 m event. Lemaitre has run a s ...
.
He ran 10.11 in his first heat in the 100 m at the London 2012 Olympics, finishing second behind Asafa Powell
Asafa Powell, CD (born 23 November 1982) is a retired Jamaican sprinter who specialised in the 100 metres. He set the 100 metres world record twice, between June 2005 and May 2008 with times of 9.77 and 9.74 seconds. Powell has consisten ...
. As he finished in the top three of the heat Gemili qualified for the next round but despite finishing third in his semi-final in a time of 10.06, he failed to make the final.
He qualified for the 2013 World Athletics Championships in Moscow for the 200 m. In his semi-final, he clocked a time of 19.98, the second fastest time ever by a Briton in that distance, having been bettered only by John Regis. He thus qualified for his first major final and finished 5th with a time of 20.08.
At the 2014 Commonwealth Games
The 2014 Commonwealth Games ( gd, Geamannan a' Cho-fhlaitheis 2014), officially known as the XX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Glasgow 2014, ( sco, Glesca 2014 or Glesga 2014; gd, Glaschu 2014), was an international multi-sport ev ...
on 28 July 2014, Gemili finished second in a time of 10.10 seconds in the Men's 100 m final in a race won by Kemar Bailey-Cole
Kemar Bailey-Cole (born 10 January 1992) is a male track and field athlete from Jamaica, who mainly competes in the 100m. He is the 2014 Commonwealth Games 100 metres champion.
Career
He qualified for the 2012 Summer Olympics running a persona ...
of Jamaica.
2015-19
On 31 May 2015, he broke the 10-second barrier
The 10-second barrier is the physical and psychological barrier of completing the 100 metres sprint in under ten seconds. The achievement is traditionally regarded as the hallmark of a world-class male sprinter. Its significance has become less i ...
in the 100 m for the first time in his career, with a run of 9.97 seconds; however, the wind speed (+3.7 m/s) was above the legal wind limit.
On 7 July 2015, at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Birmingham, he became the 100th man in history to break the 10-second barrier legally
Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vari ...
in the 100 m, again clocking 9.97 seconds (+2.0 m/s); however, he fell as he crossed the line, picking up a hamstring injury which would cause him to miss the 2015 World Championships. He is the one hundredth man to break 10 seconds.
Gemili qualified for the Men's 200 metres Final in Rio 2016. Gemili, Christophe Lemaitre
Christophe Lemaitre (; born 11 June 1990) is a French sprinter who specialises in the 100 and 200 metres. In 2010, Lemaitre became the first white athlete to break the 10-second barrier in an officially timed 100 m event. Lemaitre has run a s ...
, and Churandy Martina
Churandy Thomas Martina (born 3 July 1984) is a Dutch sprinter from Curaçao, currently representing the Netherlands. Previously, he represented the Netherlands Antilles until its dissolution in 2010. His personal best time over 100 metre ...
hit the finish line together. The photo finish
A photo finish occurs in a sporting race when multiple competitors cross the finishing line at nearly the same time. As the naked eye may not be able to determine which of the competitors crossed the line first, a photo or video taken at the finis ...
revealed Lemaitre to be the bronze medalist, with only six thousandths of a second separating the three runners.
In the 2017 World Championships in London, Gemili won the Gold Medal in the 4 X 100m relay running the 2nd leg.
Gemili qualified for both the individual 100m and 200m at the 2019 World Athletics Championships
The 2019 IAAF World Athletics Championships () was the seventeenth edition of the biennial, global athletics competition organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), since renamed World Athletics. It was held betw ...
in Doha
Doha ( ar, الدوحة, ad-Dawḥa or ''ad-Dōḥa'') is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor (city), Al Khor, it is home to m ...
, Qatar
Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it sh ...
. He was eliminated in the 100m at the semi-final stage, missing out on qualification for the final via a photo finish. He narrowly missed out on a medal in the 200m final, leading the race coming off the bend but ultimately finishing in fourth place. He ran the first leg of the men's 4 × 100 m relay, winning a silver medal behind the United States in a new European record time of 37.36 seconds.
Off track, in November 2019 Gemili led a group of 20 British athletes including Mo Farah
Sir Mohamed Muktar Jama Farah (born Hussein Abdi Kahin; 23 March 1983) is a British long-distance runner. His ten global championship gold medals (four Olympic and six World titles) make him the most successful male track distance runner ever ...
, Katarina Johnson-Thompson
Katarina Mary Johnson-Thompson (born 9 January 1993) is an English athlete primarily known as an elite multi-eventer, both as a heptathlete and an indoor pentathlete. She has been World Champion in both disciplines, and a double Commonwealth ...
and Laura Muir
Laura Muir (born 9 May 1993) is a Scottish middle- and long-distance runner. She is the 2020 Tokyo Olympic silver medallist in the 1500 metres, having previously finished seventh in the event at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Muir won the bronze meda ...
who threatened to take legal action against the British Olympic Association
The British Olympic Association (BOA) is the National Olympic Committee for the United Kingdom. It is responsible for organising and overseeing the participation of athletes from the Great Britain and Northern Ireland Olympic Team, at both ...
regarding the interpretation of the International Olympic Committee
The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swis ...
's Rule 40 contained in guidelines which had been recently issued by the association. Rule 40 restricts use of Olympic-related terms in marketing by non-approved sponsors: the athletes argued that the BOA's interpretation of the rule was too restrictive regarding how they could promote their individual sponsors. In March 2020 the athletes reached an agreement with the BOA which would allow athletes more opportunities to promote their sponsors during and immediately before and after the Games. In July 2020 Gemili was announced as a board member of the track and field athletes' union, the Athletics Association.
Football career
Formerly a football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...
player, Gemili played as a defender for Football League Two
The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football L ...
team Dagenham & Redbridge
Dagenham & Redbridge Football Club is a professional association football club based in Dagenham, Greater London, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Often known simply as D ...
,[ and joined ]Thurrock
Thurrock () is a unitary authority area with borough status and unparished area in the ceremonial county of Essex, England. It is part of the London commuter belt and an area of regeneration within the Thames Gateway redevelopment zone. The ...
on loan at the end of August 2011, where he made 12 appearances in the Isthmian League
The Isthmian League () is a regional men's football league covering Greater London, East and South East England, featuring mostly semi-professional clubs.
Founded in 1905 by amateur clubs in the London area, the league now consists of 82 t ...
until 30 November.
He was previously a youth player at Chelsea
Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to:
Places Australia
* Chelsea, Victoria
Canada
* Chelsea, Nova Scotia
* Chelsea, Quebec
United Kingdom
* Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames
** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...
from the age of eight onwards for seven years, and spent a year at Reading
Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch.
For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spell ...
. His time had been split between athletics and football; he said of his potential dual careers in 2012, "I hope this year could be a turning point in helping me decide which sport to focus on, but it does depend on what I run this year."
In 2012 Gemili switched full-time to athletics.
Results
References
External links
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
* (2014)
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gemili, Adam
1993 births
Living people
Footballers from Greater London
English footballers
Association football defenders
Athletes from London
English male sprinters
British male sprinters
Olympic male sprinters
Olympic athletes of Great Britain
Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics
Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics
Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Olympics
Commonwealth Games silver medallists for England
Commonwealth Games medallists in athletics
Athletes (track and field) at the 2014 Commonwealth Games
Athletes (track and field) at the 2018 Commonwealth Games
World Athletics Championships athletes for Great Britain
World Athletics Championships winners
World Athletics Championships medalists
European Athletics Championships winners
European Athletics Championships medalists
European Athletics Rising Star of the Year winners
World Athletics U20 Championships winners
British Athletics Championships winners
Chelsea F.C. players
Reading F.C. players
Dagenham & Redbridge F.C. players
Thurrock F.C. players
National League (English football) players
English people of Iranian descent
English people of Moroccan descent
Alumni of the University of East London